Sempe is one of the historic quarters of central Accra, counted by Potočnik (2017) with Alata and Akanmaji as parts of Jamestown (English Accra). Field (1940) records that the English built Fort James on land given by the Sempe mantsɛ, that the Sempe and Alata people placed themselves under English protection, and that the Jamestown mantsɛ customarily acknowledges Sempe ownership of the land by sitting on the knees of the Sempe mantsɛ during the Odzra festival.
Sempe is described as one of the quarters of Jamestown.